It's the end of another book, and it's time to summarize.
Let's follow the order of ideas, practices, problems, gains and prospects, but the topic is the instinct of every author, writing testimonials without making a manuscript, basically what you think of and write, then it is basically inevitable.
Let's start with the idea, that is, why I wrote such a book, what I want to express, and how I am going to express it.
When I just finished writing Mystery, I only had the idea of writing a wasteland theme, and the rest was very vague, with no formed theme or general story, just some pictures and interesting ideas that I found very beautiful.
Those pictures have buildings hidden deep underground that form their own society, which first came from a science fiction novel I read when I was a child, about humans building thousands or tens of thousands of stories high, so that the occupants can live their lives without going out, in order to solve the problem of dense population.
There are also scenes of nuclear bomb explosions, human beings being reborn, and the torch of human civilization passed on to the dust, that is, in extremely difficult environments, children are still reciting classics.
In addition, when I wrote the mysterious testimonial, I didn't have any clear ideas, I just felt that the mystery was too heavy, and the next book had to be relaxed, but the wasteland would also be very heavy, so I used a mentally ill person to dilute it to neutralize.
Of course, at that time, I didn't dare to pat my chest to protect it, so I had to add the word "laugh" to the end of that sentence.
I have also read a lot of wasteland novels, played Fallout 2 (after Fallout turned into a shooting game, I haven't played much, after all, I am dizzy 3D, the most dizzy shooting game), I always want to write something different, this is my personal paranoia, I hope to be different.
Therefore, the theme was slowly set in the post-wasteland era, and the familiar classic elements such as survival in the apocalypse and garbage picking up survival were jumped over and placed in the reconstructed miniaturized human society, as well as various folk customs caused by the interruption of civilization and the influence of high-level forces.
This actually brings a problem, which I call "misalignment of expectations", because when many readers look at the wasteland, they will think of those classic elements in their heads, and the emotions of anticipation will arise from this, and what I want to write is completely different from what they expect, and there is a misalignment.
For an author, this is actually a problem that must be treated with caution, when writing mystery, a new theme and a new worldview, most readers actually can't bring the corresponding instinctive impression when they read it, even so, friends who have expectations for steampunk and the fundamentalist Cthulhu myth also have a certain misalignment of expectations, but the proportion is not large.
In my lifetime, in fact, I have suffered losses in this regard, and readers came in with a sense of anticipation of watching Gao Wu's fantasy. Later, after I ended the Six Paths system and officially transferred to the story of Half Immortal Heroes and Half High Martial Arts, readers who came from the martial arts style in the rivers and lakes also had strong expectations and misalignment.
This causes the first generation to be serialized, although the monthly pass ranks higher, but the actual subscription is always a little worse than the previous arcane, of course, the first generation channel is better, the overall income is still the same, and the stamina after finishing the book is also better because of the theme.
In the book Long Night, I think the wasteland itself is a niche theme, and it doesn't seem to matter if I get a post-wasteland, so I didn't deliberately add some words like there is no apocalypse survival and there are no common wasteland elements in front of the introduction.
After the deaths of Yao and Dabai, this story is over, the long night ends, dawn is coming, and other forces and other people have encounters is another story, a new story.
The story of the "Old Tune Group" has come to an end, and all that remains is the afterglow.
Therefore, the last one is the epilogue, there is no need to write so much, just bring out the feeling that the night has passed, the fire is passed on, and the endless life is enough, so that it is neither lengthy nor procrastinating, but also has a faint afterglow echoing.
But I also know that most friends will look forward to feedback from all aspects of the situation after reading the penultimate chapter, as well as the definitive confirmation of the final ending, this kind of emotion is normal, and I expected it.
As a result, I was really embarrassed to push the date of completion of the book back by another day, and the eagle had already set the end of the book today, if I bumped into it, it would be very embarrassing, besides, the manuscript is there, not written in a hurry, then it is simply more in one breath, in order to calm everyone's emotions, I could have changed two chapters together at seven o'clock, but I had to delay it until ten o'clock.
Well, I may have similar feelings for some friends who read it in one go, and I can't even think of a way to solve this problem, which is miserable, because having to write some detailed explanations will destroy the feeling of aftertaste.
In my mind, I hope to write a real world, even if the stories of the protagonists are over, the lives of the supporting characters are still going on, and there are their own joys and sorrows, which is another story.
There are still many writing problems caused by the misalignment of expectations, such as the performance of the year, which I will talk about later, the tone of the world.
In short, I can't write about real gods, dug up taboos, etc., so it's too repetitive with the mysterious story core, wasteland, if there are no gods and no demons, then it is either science fiction, or aliens, and aliens are often classified in science fiction.
In the end, I got inspiration from brain science, starting from the fact that I said when I finished the conclusion of this mysterious book, there are thirteen, no, fourteen powerful "aliens" settings, there is a price of three gifts, in order not to be seen through by smart readers at a glance, and in order to package the grid, I based on the "Si Chen" of the esoteric Buddhist simulator, I made such a coat as "Zhi Sui", and the number fourteen, in the name of Zhi Sui, makes people naturally think of twelve months, plus the concept of leap month or the whole year, Thirteen have arrangements, and the rest of the "truth" can only be sacrificed for the sake of setting and mathematical beauty.
After finishing the power system and the general background setting that came from it, I began to think about the main tone of the story.
No matter what, the main tone of the wasteland theme will inevitably have the word "heavy", and I can't completely put it aside.
During that time, I also said that I was playing "Disco Elysium", and we will omit the causal connection in it, in short, there is the second word "sacrifice" in the main tone.
According to the setting of a price and a mentally ill protagonist, there is a third word with the main tone, "absurd".
This is also because the book Long Night is a post-wasteland theme, and I hope to lower the level of strength and limit the struggle to "people, powerful people, and alienated people".
At the same time, I am also trying a little.
Many friends are saying that you summarized so many storytelling keywords when you finished the book, why can't you see many of the books, just like summarizing them in vain.
At first, I wanted to follow the summarized keywords, do a good job in every detail, and make up for the shortcomings that were not so strong, but gradually, people always overestimate their own strength and have ambitions, and I gradually wondered if some keywords were necessary.
Tao gives birth to one, life to two, two to three, three to all things, this is a sentence that everyone is very familiar with, and it is often said in many fairy tale novels.
So, can we return all things to three, from three to two, from two to one, and finally reach the Tao?
Therefore, my mind twitched, and I wanted to do subtraction and find something more essential in writing.
As a result, everyone has seen that before reaching the other side, don't blindly subtract and seek shorts, in the process of experimenting with ideas, there are really a lot of problems, these will be said later.
Since I want to subtract, I must start from the usual routine of squid, I want to reverse my own routine, and I want to deconstruct my own routine.
What is the most obvious routine, except for martial arts and arcane, the others are powerful arrangements and games, which is actually the most reasonable development in the worldview under the high-level power system.
Therefore, combined with the main tone of "absurdity" and the struggle of people, as well as the existence of the cost, I have degraded, dwarfed, and psychopathized the powerful.
In this way, their arrangement seems ridiculous, their struggle belongs to the struggle between powerful people and alienated people, and they themselves cannot be omnipotent, and there is no strategy.
In our eyes, the elders are closer to dictators and ruthless people like Amin in Africa in a sense, but they rely on their own superpowers, they will make mistakes, they will do unreasonable things, they will use all kinds of down-to-earth means, they will push out all the chips, and they will fight.
Only then can human power intervene.
This also brings about a misalignment of expectations, when not playing or shooting from a distance, it is still okay to force the age, but the result is actually like that.
But think about the awakened people who only need to appear today. Which one has any kind of force, either funny and absurd, or all kinds of diseases, everyone should still be able to guess the force and ability of the year.
Of course, no matter what, the reader's expectations are misaligned, the problem is definitely with the author, there is no better foreshadowing, no more suitable intervention method is adopted, etc., etc.
From the absurdity and the ability of each year to have different sects, different rituals, different customs, and different prayers, I have done this in quite detail and relatively successfully, which can always make everyone feel like "grass".
It's right to feel this way, it's absurd.
With the main tone and the various settings that extend from it, the next step is to determine the means of expression.
When the mystery was over, I said that I would try to get back the burst of repeated questioning and use it again, but I was sure that I wanted to go against some of my routines, which was a bit strange.
So, I was thinking about whether there was a better way to deal with it, which could have repeated question-like outbursts without the need for a bunch of mental activities every time.
In fact, I often complain when I watch dramas and novels, why do I always flash back at critical moments, and have a bunch of thoughts at critical times.
In fact, I can understand that otherwise, it is impossible to completely set off the atmosphere and make the emotions sincere.
I thought, thought, thought, and thought of the technique of "echo".
I mentioned it in the summary of the third part, but I didn't say it too specifically, but now I can talk about it in detail.
The function of "echo" is to repeatedly appear the same or similar words in front of different characters in different scenes again and again, so as to achieve a level that makes everyone remember deeply.
When the critical moment comes, as soon as that sentence is spoken, the corresponding memory and corresponding emotions do not need me to flash back, and I don't need to repeatedly inquire about my heart, so I can mobilize like a piercing one.
The reverberation is not necessarily an enhancement effect, but can also be contrasted before and after, forming a contrast, and there are many ways to express it.
Once the response is determined, there will be "save all mankind", "dreams everywhere, why be serious", "there are latecomers", Dabai's song "The Price of Love", the hourly news in the company, Xiaohong's self-deprecation and ridicule, Xiaobai's obsession with not wanting to escape and other words, songs, and broadcasts repeatedly, in order to achieve different effects at different stages and in the final part.
The same is true for children's recitation.
With the reverberation, the long night has become a symphony in my mind, so I named each part with the name of different classical music, hoping that the ending would have an aftersound.
Actually, I haven't listened to classical music for a long time, and it has been very vulgar in recent years, so I listen to popular songs, and the only one I listen to is the domestic "Yellow River Concerto".
I am actually quite satisfied with the overall effect of the response, but the more flawed part is Xiaohong.
In the process, they were chased by a large number of "heartless people", and some employees gradually became exhausted and fell behind, not hunted by the "heartless people".
Later, his parents were also exhausted, so they carried one each, but in this way, their burden also increased, and gradually, the "heartless ones" caught up.
After repeated hesitation, Xiaohong asked her parents and Xiaobai to run first, stayed behind to deal with those "heartless", and when he ran calmly to the "heartless", the voiceover sounded his usual self-deprecation again.
But in that case, Xiaobai would not escape, and his parents would not be able to escape even if they climbed another or two floors.
I was still a little soft-hearted and chose to run to the door, with more twists and turns on the way, but it seemed too deliberate, so much so that it smelled like a forced knife, and I couldn't get up.
If I can save more manuscripts, I should be able to extract the awareness of the upper floors of the underground building and create "unintentional people" in advance, so that the logic will be smooth and it will feel much better.
After the response, let's talk about the subtraction.
The first thing to reduce is the "sense of substitution", which is actually forced, with a mental protagonist, there is no inner description, how to create a sense of substitution?
We can only consider attracting everyone with interesting things, and slowly let the members of the group like it, and read it because they like it.
But I reluctantly adopted the style of travelogues and road films, so that the structure was loose and the plot was not compact enough.
Of course, this is not impossible to solve, travelogues and road movies also have their own charm, but I ran out of the main line from the beginning, investigating the causes of the destruction of the old world and the source of "heartlessness".
If the main line is too clear, it will lead to everyone always wanting to push the main line, and there will be a lack of patience in other aspects, and the road movie will become less attractive.
In addition, when I tried to write a team for the first time, there were too many internal conversations, which seemed quite procrastinating, and the overall reading experience was not very good.
Another point is that I hope to form layers of echoes at the end, and from different perspectives, I will have the courage to charge for what I want to protect, die for obsession and love, and actively sacrifice to save all mankind......
This causes team members to be too fixed and lack of "change", and as ordinary people, it is impossible to always grow and have highlights, and it is impossible to repeatedly do this aspect of the plot, which is a bigger problem.
This led to the highlight being flat after that, and he had to play for a long time.
It is better to write in a mysterious way, so that the characters can have highlights and exit in an orderly manner.
In addition, the suspense setting of the long night is too clear, and you have to decrypt it again and again, step by step, as far as the length of the entire book is concerned, writing only such a puzzle is actually easy to make people tired and lack the motivation to read.
Moreover, because of the problem of the puzzle itself, it is very easy for smart readers to guess the answer as long as there is a hint of clue, which leads to the fact that I have to always make no progress.
Even so, there are a few who guessed in advance, fortunately, it is not mainstream, and the chapter on brain science can still bring people a trembling feeling when it comes out.
Similarly, as soon as the purpose of "Zhuang Sheng" comes out, many questions are just to explain and explain, and explaining it in advance makes it easy for everyone to guess the purpose.
That section seems to be procrastinating, lacking enough twists and surprises, and failing to form the expected emotional foreshadowing and progression.
I have to say that it is hard work to fight wits and courage with readers, and it is very difficult.
There is no sense of substitution, and there are so many problems, the story has been very difficult, coupled with the limitations of the power system, there are not enough tricks of abilities, always emphasizing the first move, too much repetition, which makes me a little afraid of writing battles in the later stage, and I can avoid it if I can.
At this point, I won't write much, the big problems are these, the small problems and small details are not summarized in one or two thousand words, I just think about it slowly, mainly to the point of exhaustion and physical exhaustion.
For example, I can better express the characters with actions, such as the setting of the echo, for example, the display of the overall spirit, all of which give me more weapons.
In the end, such an ending was set up a long time ago, so when I wrote the first seven parts, I was reluctant to embarrass the "old tune group" and give them too much suffering.
This also caused the problem that the front was actually too smooth, and Wen seemed to look at the mountain and did not like the flat.
Of course, you can't always be a mountain, you will get tired.
The overall results of Long Night are actually okay, there is definitely a gap from expectations, and there are hundreds more than the average number of orders on the shelves, but no matter what, I can still have a lot of satisfaction when I think back on the content of Long Night.
The story of the "Old Tune Group" is over, but as long as you still remember Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimianlong, Yuehong, and Baichen and the others, then I think they still have a second life, an emotional life, anyway, they are dreaming everywhere, why be serious?
The next book is Mystery 2, this is what I promised, how to write it specifically, I don't have any ideas yet, you can pay attention to the progress at any time through my official account, I will also update some long night settings, occasional brain holes, and food sharing, etc., wait, it's over, I finally have time to update the official account.
The second part of Mystery will be on March 4 next year.
This date should be familiar to everyone, I am still a boy with a sense of ceremony.
Let's see you then.
(End of this chapter)